Touring Essentials Blog: Winter Reading

It's cold and miserable outside. Your bike has been parked for two months already, and many more months will go by before you are riding again. How do you pass the time?

Pick up a good book.

Since you ride, that tells me you are a bit adventurous, which also tells me there is no point in me giving you my views on these or any other books. You’ll go exploring and find the ones you like.

No matter what kind of riding you like to do, there is a book you can find that will hold your interest. If you want tales of adventure from people who have travelled around the world or personal memories or spiritual growth found on the seat of a bike, you will find a book.

There are books by some very famous people and there are books about famous people. Some relative unknowns sell their self-published books at the bike shows over the winter and some books are only available from specific websites.

Support your local author.

There are books to help you develop/improve your riding skills, which can be quite helpful so sit back and reflect on the content as you await that first ride in the spring.

You can read about racers or get to the bottom of the long-distance rider mentality.

There are books filled with photos and there are books you will want to read for the articles.

Plus, don’t forget your favourite magazine.

Just because there is snow outside and you can’t go for a ride, there is no reason to forget about riding.

What’s on your bookshelf? Here’s a selection of what is on mine (see photos above and below).

Plus, your local library can quite likely get you any/all of these and more.